Atrial Flutter -> Syncope - Heart Disorders Message Board

tagoso · 12-28-2003, 06:52 AM

Hi. 29 year old healthy male caucasian. I was preparing to do a run test - considerable stress and physical exertion. I ran the test, but did not make the time. My heart was racing at the end of the run - as you would expect. 20 mins later, it was still beating at the same speed. I stupidly thought nothing of it. One week later, I went for a slow jog. My heart rate increased to an abnormal level and I felt dizzy. I blacked out for a couple of seconds - long enough to fall to the ground. I visited a GP later that day - he did an ECG and declared I had Atrial Fibrillation and sent me to hospital. I was admitted to hospital and was diagnosed with Atrial Flutter. Was given some drugs - digoxin, aspirin etc. GP referred me to hospital and they said come back in 8 months. I could not climb 2 flights of stairs without passing out - typical NZ health system. 2 weeks later, I exerted myself loading bags into a bus which I was due to drive school children to a location 1.5 hours away. My heart raced and blacked out - whilst still loading luggage luckily.
I went to a different GP that afternoon and I was placed in to the back of an ambulance and sent to hospital. I was kept in hospital for 1 week. Apparently, I had atrial flutter which wasn't so unheard of - but when I exercised, the whole heart tried to keep up - resulting in a heart rate of 236! This was so fast that the heart could not effectively pump blood to the head - hence my blacking out.

Whilst in hospital, my heart naturally returned to sinus rhythm.

I am now waiting for an appointment with the cardilogist to discuss possible electrophysiology study and ablation.

Does anyone have any comments or suggestions regarding the above story. Would be great to hear from you!

T.

Machaon · 12-28-2003, 09:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tagoso

I visited a GP later that day - he did an ECG and declared I had Atrial Fibrillation and sent me to hospital. I was admitted to hospital and was diagnosed with Atrial Flutter. Was given some drugs - digoxin, aspirin etc.

How much digoxin were you on? With the increased problems with your heart did you try to increase the amount of digoxin to see if that would help?

I've had advanced heart disease for over twenty years and have learned quite a bit about living with it. It has been quite a battle. I've found that I've had to take control over my disease, monitor it, understand it, and make modifications to the heart meds I take, my lifestyle, environment and diet in order to, not only, survive the disease, but to have a fairly good quality of life. Just surviving, to me, is not sufficient.

Quote:

My heart raced and blacked out - whilst still loading luggage luckily.
I went to a different GP that afternoon and I was placed in to the back of an ambulance and sent to hospital. I was kept in hospital for 1 week. Apparently, I had atrial flutter which wasn't so unheard of - but when I exercised, the whole heart tried to keep up - resulting in a heart rate of 236! This was so fast that the heart could not effectively pump blood to the head - hence my blacking out.

Wow! You are lucky you survived such a strain on your heart and on your system.

Quote:

Whilst in hospital, my heart naturally returned to sinus rhythm.

Here is your first significant and important clue. Although your heart goes nuts, and even goes into an atrial flutter, which is dangerous, your heart is able to go back into a normal rhythm.

What does that tell you? It says that your heart is capable of beating correctly, but there are things that you are coming into contact with, or eating, or breathing, that are irritating your heart. For me, it takes more than one irritant to really get my heart beating badly.

Almost anything can cause a heart to misfire, coffee, cigarette smoke, alcohol, high levels of pollens and/or pollutants in the air, dust, allergens, dyes in the clothes that you wear, bedding, allergens in rugs and upholstered furniture, over the counter meds, certain vitamins, mineral or other health additives, etc.

Are you taking any type of diet or health supplements? On any meds? Drink coffee? Drink soda?

If you want to avoid surgery, or additional heart misfiring episodes, you need to find out those things that irritate your heart's electrical system the most. If you want to do some reseach look up "neurohormonal activation".

What I have found, with my own heart, is the following:

When I come into contact with only one heart irritant, my heart will start jumping around a little. It might skip a beat, or jump hard, or race a little, thump a little. If I come into contact with a second irritant, it causes my heart to beat worse. And, of course, a third irritant can make my heart beat become dangerously unstable. How do I know this? When I wear a 24 hour holter, which does an ECG of my heart over a 24 hour period, I test several known irritants to see what they are doing to my heart. It was risky for me, but I had to know what certain irritants were doing to my heart. I found out, and I now know quite a bit about my own heart and what things to avoid.

For just a guess about your problems. It might not have been the slow jog that caused your problems. There might have been a high level of pollens and/or pollutants in the air that day. That is what kills me! Wearing a mask will help some, but just the contact of pollens and pollutants to one's skin is enough to cause the heart to go nuts.

Is this all nonsense to you, or do you have any questions?

Wishing you good health and a happy New Years!